Chastain DQed and Moffitt rewarded with the victory of a truck from Iowa

NEWTON, Iowa – Ross Chastain has gone from the highest to the lowest in minutes after the 200 rain report by M & M, presented by Casey's General Stores at Iowa Speedway.

After appearing to have won the race in a dominant rout and being close to the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series playoffs, the No. 44 Nports Motorsports Chevy Silverado of Chastain proved to be too low to the front during the technical inspection post-race on the track.

As a result, Chastain was officially disqualified from the competition, moving Moffitt – who had crossed the finish line in second place for GMS Racing – to his first Truck Series win of the season.

Chastain becomes the first driver of a NASCAR national series to be totally disqualified from an apparent victory since April 17, 1960, by which time Emanuel Zervakis' victory over the Series (Cup Series) at Wilson (NC) Speedway had been rejected because of an oversized fuel tank on its No. 85 Chevrolet.

"We have procedures and rules in place and trucks are limited in height at the front and rear of vehicles. Unfortunately, the 44 (Chastain truck) was low in the front, extremely low, "said Brad Moran, general manager of Truck Series, NBC Sports Chastain's Chevrolet. "We have a process of what is happening at that time. They have the opportunity to ride. They put gas in the vehicle, they ventilate the tires. (We) give them at least five to ten minutes. (Then we check them a second time.

"Unfortunately, the 44 did not climb at all on the front."

Sunday's afternoon win is Moffitt's second straight in Iowa and eighth in his Truck series.

Moffitt also receives the $ 50,000 bonus for winning the second stage of the Triple Truck Challenge, while Chastain receives the last place points and loses the stage and playoff points that he also would have. earned.

Niece Motorsports has the opportunity to appeal the disqualification in an expedited process, and the team's owner, Al Niece, said it would do so before the race next weekend at the World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

"Our Niece Motorsports team is working to ensure that our race trucks respect the rules of NASCAR and that our two Chevrolet vehicles have passed both the opening and pre-race inspections," said Niece. "We believe that # 44 suffered minor damage during the event, which left the truck too low after the race.

"We will appeal the NASCAR decision, and regardless of the outcome, this team will be ready to go to Gateway and win again."

Moffitt never led a lap on Sunday, but exerted strong pressure on Chastain throughout the final phase of the 200-lap race. There were 40 points left on Chastain's rear bumper, but he fainted in the final laps of the Niece Motorsports Chevrolet and finished at 2,717 seconds of the apparent winner.

However, Chastain's chagrin after the race becomes Moffitt's jubilation, as he moves firmly from playoff to playoff and is stuck with a win and in a position to defend his league title.

Ben Rhodes becomes the new winner of the second place. Harrison Burton tied his best result of the season in third. Grant Enfinger and Stewart Friesen complete the top five.

Sheldon Creed was sixth, followed by Matt Crafton in seventh.

Rookie Chandler Smith started in pole position and led the first 55 laps of his Truck series debut, despite the lack of radio communication with his team, but was penalized by a speeding ticket penalty. has relegated to 17th place.

Georgia native, age 16, took the wheel and finished eighth. Raphael Lessard and Todd Gilliland, two of his teammates at Toyota, closed the top 10.

Because Chastain also lost his stage wins due to disqualification, Crafton and Rhodes were bred to wins in the first and second stages, respectively.

The action on the track in the finals was punctuated by a 63-point drop, after Johnny Sauter's contact with Austin Hill while running in the top 10 led Hill to retaliate, sending Sauter against the wall and leaving his number 13 with end-of-race damage.

Sauter turned on the track, entered Hill cautiously and pushed the No. 16 Toyota against the outside wall. Sauter was parked for the day by NASCAR officials, while Hill finished 12th.

To view the full race results, go to the next page.